Julie Summers and Jochen Hemmleb, authors of The Everest Mystery, on how working together on their book became ‘a wonderful collaboration’.
When Julie approached Jochen with the suggestion of writing a book together about Sandy Irvine she had no idea whether it would work or not. That Jochen agreed was a great surprise and, as it turned out, led to a wonderful collaboration which has been a real joy. The mystery of Mallory and Irvine has fascinated them both for most of their lives. Julie first heard the story of her great-uncle Sandy Irvine’s disappearance close to the top of Mount Everest when she was a little girl. Jochen became hooked on the story as a teenager in Germany and it ultimately became his life’s guideline.
The Everest Mystery is the result of eighteen months of intense activity and joint endeavour.
Sandy Irvine
Our aim was to bring Sandy Irvine’s story up to date following the discovery of his partial remains in the Central Rongbuk glacier by a National Geographic team led by Jimmy Chin. The icebreaker to the success of the joint project was a memorable research visit in May 2025 that took in Oxford, Derby, York and London. After two days in the archives of Merton College, reading Sandy’s diary, oxygen notes and other papers as well as poring over maps and photographs, we set off on our travels.
We met members of the 1924 expedition members families including Peter Odell and Christopher Norton. The latter, in particular, helped us completely to reassess the thinking of the 1924 climbing team and their plans which, far from being haphazard and reactionary, were brilliantly thought out and followed to the letter as closely as circumstances permitted. It was then that we both realized that we had not only the passion but also the authority to go back over well-trodden ground and challenge accepted wisdom about what happened on the fatal climb on 8 June 1924.
The Best Part of the Collaboration
We divided the writing of the book into two halves. Julie wrote the family story and focused on Sandy’s early life, his exploration of Spitsbergen and his rowing career while Jochen wrote the post-1924 chapters charting the discoveries and theories of the last one hundred plus years. We then handed each half to the other and came back with our own thoughts and suggestions. This could have been fraught with danger, but it turned out to be the best part of the collaboration.
Jochen focused on the details of the trek to Everest and the climb while Julie wove Sandy’s story and above all his family’s memory into Jochen’s half. That this approach worked so smoothly and seamlessly was, in Jochen’s mind, due to a few core values and principles: respect, tolerance, mutual appreciation of each other’s expertise and strengths, and the realization that a shared journey is all the sweeter.
The Rewarding Aspects of Collaboration
One of the most rewarding aspects of our collaboration was ensuring that we kept Sandy centre stage throughout the book. We did this in several ways, one being to refer to him by his Christian name while all other members of the expedition, including George Mallory, were referred to by their surnames. We tried to weave in detail about Sandy’s character that would bring him closer to a modern reader. His love affair with his best friend’s stepmother was an obvious mini-saga, especially when we recalled that the wronged stepfather had written to Willie Irvine in 1924. He told him that it was a good thing Sandy had died on Everest as otherwise he would have had to cite the boy in the divorce proceedings against his wife.
Another moment was when Sandy’s rowing crew won the Elsenham Cup at the Henley Peace Regatta in 1919. He wrote about the race in an excited and breathless letter to his mother, Lilian, that speaks of his sheer joy of life, rowing and winning.
Even when we were writing about Sandy’s trials on the mountain we wove in little snippets about his innermost thoughts that he expressed in his diary. For example, on the morning of 1 May 1924 he wondered what was happening in Oxford that same day when, for almost 500 years, choirboys from Magdalen College chapel sing hymns and madrigals at 6am to welcome in May morning.
The Editing Process
Another possible spark point in the collaboration was during the editing process. The copy editor came back with queries and some changes, a few of which we had to challenge. Fortunately, we were at one with every decision we had to take. There were to be two picture sections, one put together by Julie, in consultation with Jochen, about Sandy’s life and the other put together by Jochen, in consultation likewise, which focused on the post-1924 finds and led the reader through the terrain on Everest that Sandy and Mallory would have trodden for the first time.
Julie managed to introduce Jochen to a more intimate picture of Sandy Irvine by walking him through the archive at Merton and the streets of Oxford, the walls of which seep with history. We even managed to get into the rooms Sandy occupied during his time at Merton. Jochen threw Julie in at the deep end when it came to the minutiae of Everest history and she found that thrilling. It even made her rethink what might have happened to her great-uncle on Everest.
This might all seem a little too-good-to-be-true, but it is how it was, and we both feel extremely lucky that it has been not only a great success but a joy too. Jochen, in particular, feels that the collaboration marked the high point of his long involvement in the Mallory and Irvine story. As he recently said, “To have written now, nearly forty years after being first inspired by the story, a book together with an actual relative of one of the protagonists means a huge full-circle moment for me. I don’t think it gets any better than this!”
(c) Julie Summers and Jochen Hemmleb
About The Everest Mystery:
There is no mystery more compelling than the disappearance of British mountaineer George Mallory and Sandy Irvine, last seen ‘going strong for the top’ of Mount Everest on 8 June 1924.
Mallory was a renowned climber; Irvine was a daring young sportsman embarking on the greatest adventure of his life . . . The question of exactly what happened to them on that fateful day has fascinated people for more than a century. Now, Irvine’s great-niece Julie Summers and mountaineering historian Jochen Hemmleb have written a gripping account of the 1924 expedition from Sandy’s perspective, challenging misconceptions regarding his role and the skills and knowledge of the two men.
The narrative brings to life all the remarkable characters involved in the attempt and describes the extraordinary feats of endurance and planning needed to survive the extreme conditions on Everest. The authors also examine whether the two men reached the summit – becoming the first to do so – or died on the ascent. Were their bodies seen by Chinese expeditions in 1960 and 1975? What can we learn from the discoveries of Mallory’s remains in 1999 and Sandy’s boot and foot in September 2024?
An intriguing detective story, The Everest Mystery is also a moving account of men pushing themselves to their limits in an attempt to make history.
The Everest Mystery: Sandy Irvine, George Mallory and the Truth Still Buried on Everest by Julie Summers and Jochen Hemmleb is published by Pan Macmillan on 11 June in Hardback, audio and eBook. Order your copy online here.
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